Lynn Green

General Secretary

The General Secretary serves our Union by offering spiritual leadership within the context of the Word and prayer.

The General Secretary is the leader of our Union, both internally in supporting, guiding and encouraging our Associations, Colleges and Churches in mission, and also externally in representing the Union in the UK and abroad, in both Christian and secular settings. Read more...

Dave Gregory

President

The President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain is elected annually and takes office in May.

The President’s main role is as a communicator / facilitator of our Union’s vision and mission. The President travels around our Union, engaging with local churches, regional Associations and Colleges. Read more...

Governance

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What is Christianity?

Our Union of over 2000 churches is supported by staff in thirteen regional associations and three specialist teams based in Didcot, Oxfordshire. Our six Baptist Colleges prepare men and women for ministry and offer ongoing development and training.

Home Mission Grants are given to support a variety of ministries in and through Baptist churches and chaplains across the country. It also enables all our churches and ministers to be supported and helped through the work of the Regional Associations and the specialist teams in Didcot.

Other areas of work

Safeguarding for the protection of adults and children from harm, abuse or neglect. Every church should adopt safeguarding policy statements for children, young people, and adults at risk. We help churches maintain safe environments for all, with processes to follow should something go wrong, and support for everyone involved.

Resources Library

Our Resources Library has a wealth of guideline leaflets and information to help you and your church on a range of topics. You can also find a range of booklets, cards and our Baptists Together magazine available to buy from the Online Shop.

Rise in people using winter Church and Community Night Shelters

During winter 2016/17 more people than ever before were forced to use church and community night shelters, according to research published by housing and homelessness charity Housing Justice today (11 December).

Projects in the Housing Justice Church and Community Night Shelter Network provided emergency accommodation to almost three thousand (2923) people experiencing homelessness during the winter of 2016/17.

This is an increase of 53 per cent on the previous year’s figure, and double the number of people receiving support in 2012.

Church and Community night shelters are voluntary led projects, encompassing people of all faiths and none who staff emergency shelters during the winter period to provide emergency accommodation for people with nowhere else to go. Guests are provided with a camp bed, bedding and a hot meal, usually in a church building, community building or other faith building. Most receive no funding from government or local authorities.

During the winter of 2016/17 on average, each shelter remained open for 102 nights, 40 per cent of guests stayed in the shelter for less than a week, while 30 per cent stayed longer than a month.

Of the 53 community-based projects who were able contribute data for the year, each hosted an average of 55 people experiencing homelessness, if this ratio were replicated across the full network of Church and Community Night Shelter Projects across the country, it would equate to approximately 6,000 people (projected figure 5,885).

Just two years ago, this figure stood at 3,640 guests across 65 shelters, showing significant growth in the network’s capacity.

Underpinning this huge rise in guests at night shelters is the significant rise in rough sleepers since 2011 (134 per cent) owing to issues such as welfare reform and the ending of a tenancy in the private rented sector.

As demand grows church and community night shelters are undergoing a rapid expansion; two years ago, there were 65 shelters operating in the network. Today, there are 107 projects in the Housing Justice Network.

Throughout the year, the network saw contributions from 4,284 volunteers across the country, contributing a total of 273,605 hours. This equates to an average of 6,673 hours per shelter, representing a significant investment from each community.

Kathy Mohan, Chief Executive of Housing Justice said, 'Today’s figures show that the housing crisis is becoming a homelessness crisis with such a significant rise in the numbers of people being forced to sleep on camp beds in church halls up and down the country.

'Typically guests staying in night shelters will not be recorded in street-counts and official measures of homelessness. Street rough sleeping, and potentially street fatalities would be higher without these incredible projects and their volunteers.

'Tonight and throughout the winter, thousands of people will put in a shift at their local shelter to give hospitality to those experiencing homelessness. We commend the exceptional work of these shelter projects and the compassionate, professional way they provide hospitality.

'But these appalling numbers must be a wake up call to local authorities and to the government that a significant number of people are relying on voluntary services for that most basic of essentials, shelter.

'The government should must take note of the work grassroots projects are carrying out and work with them to achieve better outcomes for guests in night shelters. Most of all the government should look urgently at what can be done to support these projects, increase bed spaces and plan more sustainable housing solutions for night shelter guests.'